Need Help - Nco Gunto

[Christopher Miller]

Got a Japanese military sword and don't know anything about it

[SwordGuyJoe]

Pics would really help.

[Christopher Miller]

How do i post them

[Christopher Miller]

[SwordGuyJoe]

Ah. It's an non-commissioned officer's sword. For those, you'll need a picture of the handle near the hand guard, where you should find stamps from the arsenal. Also check the numbers on the blade near the handle and take a pic of those. There will be matching numbers near the mouth of the swords sheath. They should be the same if the sheath (also called a saya) and sword are a match.

[Christopher Miller]

The number on the blade and sheath areally the same. It is 149499

[SwordGuyJoe]

I've exhausted my knowledge of NCO's, but there are a number of guys here that are extremely knowledgeable about these things. With a change to the title including "NCO" I'm sure they'll flock to the post.

 

Mods: Can you please add NCO to the title and move to the military section. Probably the best chance at getting more info.

[Bruce Pennington]

Christopher,

 

When holding the sword with blade down, the right stamp is the stacked cannonballs of the Kokura Army Arsensal. The sword was made by a private contractor represented by the stamp on the left. Some guys call is the "Ichi" stamp, for the single horizontal line in the flower, which is "1" or "Ichi." But the contractors name is a mystery as no experts know who it was. The small middle stamp is the Tokyo Inspector stamp.

 

It's hard to tell the mamufacture dates on Type 95 NCO gunto because blocks of serial numbers were divided up between arsenals and contractors.

 

You'll find some excellent reading and pictures on the Ohmura site: http://ohmura-study.net/957.html. He calls the gunto with the black plate handguard "middle type" which COULD mean they were manufactured in the middle years of the war, but I have seen plenty examples of this type coming EARLIER in numberical sequence than some scuplted handgaurd versions.

 

The handle is removable, but you won't find anything interesting on the tang of Type 95s. At best there are sometimes a "W" stamp which we believe was an inspector stamp.

 

Welcome to collecting!

[SwordGuyJoe]

Thanks Bruce! I knew you'd come to the rescue.